Musical `Cats` Leaves You `feline` Really Good

December 29, 1986|By JACK ZINK, Theater Writer

Shows are supposed to ``open`` in the theater, but in the four years since Cats made its mark on Broadway, the musical has developed a stature far above such mundane events. Cats has ``arrived`` at the Miami Beach Theatre of the Performing Arts, there to dazzle full houses for the next month.

The decade`s visual sensation -- and a stunning theatrical novelty -- Cats is nearly everything it`s cracked up to be. What it lacks in traditional drama it doesn`t need; creators Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Trevor Nunn (direction) even manage to scoff at themselves when an aging Theatre Cat appropriately sings ``Well, the theatre is certainly not what it was.``

The lyric is from T.S. Eliot`s 1939 collection of poems, Old Possum`s Book of Practical Cats, from which every song but one is taken. The exception is Memory, the haunting ballad reprised on several occasions through the score. Elsewhere, Webber`s score is a curious pastiche of theatrical and pop music, and more than a dash of spinoffs that serve as testimonials to classic styles.

Webber has long been a master at revising old material for his own purpose. In Cats, his best work in that vein is a semi-serious commemoration of Italian opera titled Growltiger`s Last Stand. Yet, there are few real musical showstoppers in Cats, which explains the frequent visits to the soul- stirring Memory theme.

The rest is up to the eye, filled by director Nunn`s expansive concept, John Napier`s often garish visual design, awesome lighting by Rick Belzer that draws heavily from oranges, yellows and reds, and choreographer Gillian Lynne`s undulating sense of motion.

Direction for this tour is re-created by David Taylor, choreography by T. Michael Reed.

The question most often asked when Cats first became a smash on Broadway was whether the show could ever be adapted for presention elsewhere, since the entire Winter Garden Theater underwent a $2.5 million renovation to put the audience in the middle of the junkyard where the action takes place. The answer is yes; if, like me, you`ve never seen the New York version, you`ll never be left wondering what`s been left out.

The stage is filled with a glued-together montage of giant-sized trash ranging from an oversize stove, giant truck tire and Model T to assorted pipes and barrels. To push the sensations out into the audience, lighting is strung beyond the proscenium arch up to sides of the balcony and a chest-thumping stereo system bounces sound around the entire auditorium. And lastly, the Cats cast darts into the audience frequently to hiss -- and purr -- at bemused patrons. It all adds up to 2 1/2 hours of unrelenting razzle-dazzle.

The stage platform extends out over the orchestra pit itself, which is completely closed in with black scrim to help create a total blackout at key points in the show. As a result, two large TV monitors hang from the balcony so the cast can watch musical director Jay Alger conduct.

If you don`t already have a ticket, your chances grow dimmer by the hour. Moments before Christmas night`s official opening, only about 5,000 remained unsold of the 120,000 total. But producer Zev Bufman said at that point there`s no doubt Cats will be back again in the future to satisfy the demand.

What patrons see for upwards of $30, in reality, is a giant-sized revue performed by actors decked out in vivid cat costumes. They hiss and spit, purr and scamper about just like the tabbys around the house. The choreography is an amazingly complex series of military-scale prances and sensuous maneuvers. The traditional choreographic sense of dance appears only in short bursts. The rest is heavy traffic and, considering the results, there`s much to be said for it.

The barest of plot devices, explained almost too subtly at the very start of the show, describes how one of those cats will be chosen to ascend to the Heavyside Layer to be reborn.

Until that finale, Cats is preoccupied simply with introducing each of the cats in the show. Most are parodies of human personalities, a few are cute sendups of feline stereotypes. For the most part, the cast is in good voice as it tackles composer Webber`s wide-ranging melodies.

Larry Small as Old Deuteronomy, the tribe`s aging chief, is a warm baritone whose best turns are in short introductory passages to various scenes. Richard Poole and Joanna Beck are splendid in the operatic Growltiger operatic turn, played out in front of an intentionally tacky painted flat. If you don`t get the comic message at first, it`ll slap you silly when a row of footlights pops up in the middle of their climactic aria.

Others include Randy Slovacek as the bombastic magician, Mistoffelees, Christine Toy as Sillabub, Deborah Geneviere and Aja Major in a flashy duet announcing Macavity, a cat-sized mob chief played by David Roberts.

As for that trademark ballad, Memory, Leslie Ellis gives a deep, powerful rendition. This is not the gliding, lyrical version most people have come to know but it`s just as effective. The song`s success, however, has led to a decision to push the crescendo to a painful, unnecessary intensity.

When it`s all over, you`ll climb out of your seat with the same breathlessness that comes at the end of a Disney World thrill ride. For that, Cats may be theater only in the loosest possible definition. But it is most assuredly ``show biz.``

THEATER REVIEW

Cats

Musical set to poems about cats by T.S. Eliot.

Credits: Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Directed by Trevor Nunn. Designed by John Napier.

Through Jan. 25 at the Miami Beach Theatre of the Performing Arts, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Limited tickets still available from $22.50- $31.50. Call the box office at 673-8300, Chargit at 1-800-468-3540 or Select-A-Seat at 462-7900.